Knuckle-walking

Knuckle-walking is a form of quadrupedal walking in which the forelimbs hold the fingers in a partially flexed posture that allows body weight to press down on the ground through the knuckles. In technical terms, knuckle-walking is locomotion with the manus (Latin for hand) distally flexed on contact with the substratum. Knuckle-walking is a form of quadrupedal walking in which the forelimbs hold the fingers in a partially flexed posture that allows body weight to press down on the ground through the knuckles. In technical terms, knuckle-walking is locomotion with the manus (Latin for hand) distally flexed on contact with the substratum. Knuckle-walking helps with actions other than locomotion on the ground. For the gorilla the fingers are used for the manipulation of food, and in chimpanzees for the manipulation of food and for climbing. In anteaters and pangolins, the fingers have large claws for opening the mounds of social insects. Platypus fingers have webbing that extend past the fingers to aid in swimming, thus knuckle-walking is used to prevent stumbling. Gorillas move around by knuckle-walking, although they sometimes walk bipedally for short distances while carrying food or in defensive situations. Mountain Gorillas use knuckle walking plus other parts of their hand—fist walking doesn’t not use the knuckles, using the backs of their hand, and using their palms. Gorillas and chimpanzees use this style of locomotion as do anteaters and platypuses. Anthropologists once thought that the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans engaged in knuckle-walking, and humans evolved upright walking from knuckle-walking: a view thought to be supported by reanalysis of overlooked features on hominid fossils. Since then, scientists discovered Ardipithecus ramidus, a human-like hominid descended from the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. Ar. ramidus engaged in upright walking, but not knuckle-walking. This leads scientists to conclude that chimpanzees evolved knuckle-walking after they split from humans 6 million years ago, and humans evolved upright walking without knuckle-walking. Chimpanzees and gorillas engage in knuckle-walking. This form of hand-walking posture allows these tree climbers to use their hands for terrestrial locomotion while retaining long fingers for gripping and climbing. It may also allow small objects to be carried in the fingers while walking on all fours. This is the most common type of movement for gorillas, although they also practice bipedalism. Their knuckle-walking involves flexing the tips of their fingers and carrying their body weight down on the dorsal surface of their middle phalanges. The outer fingers are held clear off the ground. The wrist is held in a stable, locked position during the support phase of knuckle-walking by means of strongly flexed interphalangeal joints, and extended metacarpophalangeal joints. The palm as a result is positioned perpendicular to the ground and in-line with the forearm. The wrist and elbow are extended throughout the last period in which the knuckle-walker's hand carried body weight. There are differences between knuckle-walking in chimpanzees and gorillas: juvenile chimpanzees engage in less knuckle-walking than juvenile gorillas. Another difference is that the hand bones of gorillas lack key features that were once thought to limit the extension of the wrist during knuckle-walking in chimpanzees. For example, the ridges and concavities features of the capitate and hamate bones have been interpreted to enhance stability of weight-bearing; on this basis, they have been used to identify knuckle-walking in fossils. These are found in all chimpanzees but in only two out of five gorillas. They are also less prominent when found in gorillas. They are however found in primates that do not knuckle-walk. It has been suggested that chimpanzee knuckle-walking and gorilla knuckle-walking are biomechanically and posturally distinct. Gorillas use a form of knuckle-walking which is 'columnar'. In this forelimb posture, the hand and wrist joints are aligned in a relatively straight, neutral posture. In contrast, chimpanzees use an extended wrist posture. These differences underlie the different characteristics of their hand bones.